KARK.com – June 10, 2026 – “A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments Thursday in the ongoing legal challenge to Arkansas’s Act 372 of 2023, which would amend the law concerning libraries and obscene materials made available to minors. Opponents say Act 372 would criminalize librarians and expand censorship of library materials. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear oral arguments at 9 a.m. June 11 at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis. The case, Fayetteville Public Library v. Crawford County et al., stems from a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Arkansas and several co-counsel organizations on behalf of libraries, librarians, readers, bookstores and publishing groups across the state. A federal district court previously struck down key provisions of Act 372, ruling they violated the First and 14th Amendments. The court found the law could chill access to constitutionally protected materials and allow viewpoint-based censorship in libraries…”

Section 1 of Act 372 would criminalize librarians providing material considered “harmful to minors,” with a penalty of up to a year in jail. This would force libraries and bookstores to segregate or even remove any such potential materials to avoid the risk of prosecution. Section 5 would require public libraries to create a review process for any material considered “inappropriate” – an undefined and unclear term – by an individual. If the library didn’t move the challenged material to an adults-only section, the individual could appeal to their local government for a “final” decision that does not provide for judicial review before any action. Act 372 could lead Arkansas libraries to create “adult-only” areas and put librarians at risk of criminal charges if minors access those areas, or even to remove materials entirely if the library lacks space to house a separate “adult-only” area. It would restrict libraries and bookstores from freely offering books and other items due to the threat of criminal prosecution….” [ACLU]